MD/MPH Curriculum

Students in the MD/MPH combined degree pathway earn a masters in public health (MPH) degree in the same four years they earn a doctor of medicine (MD).

Developed especially for MD students, the track’s public health curriculum is tightly integrated with medical course work. This careful integration allows completion of the program in four years. The track provides the basics for understanding and practicing public health without compromising a complete medical medicine degree program. The program provides the same core curriculum provided to all Tufts MPH students, although most courses for MD/MPH students are offered at different times to accommodate the MD and DVM schedules. In addition, the MD/MPH helps students develop knowledge and skills specific to careers where public health and clinical practice overlap.

In the first two years, students take public health core and required courses in place of the weekly, pre-clinical field or research selectives pursued by other medical students. Special four-week blocks of time are reserved for elective MPH courses in the spring of the students’ third and fourth years.

In addition, students participate in a five to eight-week summer field experience between their first and second years, and an in-depth practicum in public health (Applied Learning Experience) in the fourth year.

Over the course of the first three years, students participate in a monthly, small group seminar designed to help students integrate what they are learning over time in the MPH curriculum with their clinical training.

Students take some of their classes with DVM/MPH students, and both groups are introduced to the One Health concept and approach to integrating medical and veterinary perspectives.

Degree Requirements

Students must complete 13 credits of public health course work. With the program director’s permission, students may substitute Tufts’ MPH courses offered outside the MD/MPH pathway for elective course credits. The majority of the required courses are taken in the first two years and electives are taken in the final two years.

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Tufts University

Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, biomedical sciences, special combined degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level.